Lifestyles

Search continues for identities of 'Fremont's men'

This stone monument has led Dr. William M. "Bill" Johnson and Gary Flauaus on a search to discover the identities of "Fremont's Men." (Courtesy photo)

I've been writing this history column for many years and often get questions from readers. A few years ago, local residents Dr. William M. "Bill" Johnson and Gary Flauaus each emailed me and asked about a specific historic grave site on private property in the mountains west of Boulder.

Having no knowledge about the site, I put the men in contact with each other and suggested they look into it together. That turned out to be a good idea, but the mystery has deepened with research, and the men still have many unanswered questions.

As Johnson and Flauaus visited archives, pored over maps and read historical accounts, correspondence and old newspaper articles, they became good friends who remain cautiously optimistic they will fulfill their mission.

"Our goal," Johnson said in a recent interview, "is to give due respect to the remains by giving them a name, or names."

Johnson and Flauaus had little to go on when they began their search. At the site is a waist-high monument made of local stone with a plaque inscribed, "On this spot are buried two of Fremont's men 1845-46."

That led to a study of explorer John C. Fremont's five western expeditions, but Johnson and Flauaus quickly realized that none of the journeys included travel through Boulder County or nearby Gilpin County.

Johnson and Flauaus also discovered that the current stone monument dates from 1983. It was erected by a previous property owner to replace a wooden marker placed in the early 20th century. Johnson, however, remembers yet another stone marker, from the 1970s, and that one indicated the burial of only one man.

Meanwhile, additional correspondence uncovered a report that LeRoy Hafen, Colorado State Historian from 1924 to 1954, had excavated the site in the late 1930s. He was said to have found human remains, which he reburied, but no documentation has been found to support the claim.

Johnson and Flauaus then discovered another lead in the writings of an early English tourist, Maurice O'Connor Morris. He had traveled the area in 1863 and noted "a small railed-in enclosure" that marked the spot where, he wrote, a hunter had succumbed to smallpox. Morris added that a "plain board headstone, with a lead-pencil inscription ... told the sad story."

Yet another reference, by Boulder County pioneer Martin Parsons, stated that two men, buried in this same location, lost their lives while traveling in a military wagon train over Rollins Pass in 1865.

Currently, Johnson and Flauaus are in the process of sifting out the facts from local lore. Could the possible connection with smallpox have added a layer of secrecy? How many burials were there, which of the conflicting dates are correct and was there any connection with Fremont at all?

Recently, the men came across the names of Shawnee hunters James Rodgers and his son, Thomas Jefferson Rodgers. They had traveled with Fremont's second expedition but left the group at Fort St. Vrain (now Platteville, in neighboring Weld County) in 1843.

So far, genealogical research has not revealed any dates or places of death that would rule out the hunters as "Fremont's men." Meanwhile, the research goes on, and the search for answers continues.

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